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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

The Singles - Sweet Tooth

Have you ever dreamed of a band that has the good looks? A band that's got crunchy guitars AND catchy melodies? A band that's got the rock'n'roll attitude without being cliché?

Don't look any further. Ladies and gentlemen I give you The Singles! The band is currently featuring Vince Frederick (guitar/vocals) - Nicky Veltman (drums) - Max Goldman (bass).

One girl and 2 guys. 100% perfect rock'n'roll trio.

Their fourth full length, SWEET TOOTH, is brilliant from start to finish.

All killers and no fillers.

Read their full story here, told by Vince:

1)Vince, it seems like a long way, musically
and visually from the 4 guys who released the very Beatlesque "Better Than
Before" in 2003. In 2017, you are the only remaining original member and
the new release "Sweet Tooth" sounds -at times- very glam (the
title track). Please, tell the viewers of this blog your full story. We want to
hear it all from you!

I joined this band called “Electricity” back
in 1998. We only played a handful of shows, maybe 3 or 4. This band is how I
met the original drummer (Dave Knepp) and bass player (Dave Lawson) for The
Singles. I started “The Singles” in 1999 with Knepp, and once we made our first
EP, we recruited Lawson to play bass. Lawson brought in his friend Will Yates
to play lead guitar; that line-up got signed to Rainbow Quartz Records in 2002,
due to Matthew Smith from Outrageous Cherry. He dug us and wanted to produce
our first album, and his band was on the label. Anyways, Knepp suggested we
wear black and white suits for a 'Battle Of The Bands' gig, and that's how the
suits got started. I was way into the Beatles, etc. back then; so I wanted us
to always be in them, and it stuck for a loooooong time.

So after we made “Better Than Before” and did
a bunch of Euro touring, etc., that line-up went away. I put out an ad looking
for a drummer in the Metro Times, and that's where I found Brian Thunders. In
the meantime, I was rehearsing with a linguistics professor, John Hale, on
bass. He saw us play at the University he was currently teaching at and he came
up to me and said he liked us. For some reason I felt he was a musician, so I
asked him if he would want to join. And he did! This was the line up that made
our 2nd album “Start Again”. John left shortly after, and we got in
Phil Roth on bass. He was great too, and we did a bunch of gigs, including a
really fun tour of Europe in 2008.

After Phil left on bass, we recruited our
buddy Ryan Hurnevich to step in. He was in a band called The Lessmores, who we
always played with. I was going for another full length record for that year
(2009), but we just managed to get 3 CD singles released. Also, Thunders
decided to leave the band midway through that year. It felt like going I was in
circles at that point, so that's when I decided to move out to Los Angeles.

In LA, I ran into another fellow Detroit
musician Jenny Pirch. She played in a band called The Gore Gore Girls. Pirch
and I were gigging around as a duo for awhile. Then she invited out Nicky
Veltman to a show. Nicky played drums with her in the GGGs. We asked Nicky if she
would join up and she did! (Note: the suits vanished by this point)

Nicky and I got things moving on our next
record “Look How Fast A Heart Can Break” pretty quickly. We put the album out in April of 2014. We had
rotating bass players around this time. We also did a bunch of touring in the
US for that record.

Max Goldman was one of the bass players that
toured with us that year, and he stuck around for better or worse. After a year
or so we jumped back in the studio with Rick Parker, who mixed and produced
“LHFAHCB”, and we made a brand new album called “Sweet Tooth”. The album came
out on July, 28th 2017.

2)What
is your favorite topic/topic that comes easily when you write a new song?

That
would be heartache or heartbreak topics. I can really summon those feelings up
very easily when it comes to writing a song. It's a genuine feeling as well. So
I know I'm on the right track when that feeling is helping me write.

3)About
your latest full length, "Sweet Tooth". You opted not only for a tougher
sound but also for a stronger visual. Gone are the 4 sharp dressed guys in ties
and instead here is some aquatic monster with its mouth wide open. What can you
tell about the choice of the cover of the album? And what can you tell about
the recording process? Was this a live in the studio recording or a track by
track recording with lots of overdubs?

Well,
the album cover was done by my girlfriend Ursula Galviano. I knew I wanted the
album artwork to be a handmade drawing of sorts. The image was totally hers. So
whatever she heard in the making of the album, as well as the final sequenced
version, she put that down on the drawing board and created the water monster.
I think it fits the feel of some of the tunes on this album, especially the
title track.

The
recording was done once again with producer/mixer Rick Parker here in Los
Angeles. We went into the studio to work on two or three songs at a time
throughout the year of 2016. Once we got the basic backing tracks done, we
would hop on over to Rick's personal studio called “The Sandbox” to put on
overdubs.

4)To
what kind of music did you listen to as a teenager and does it still influence
your today work? What was your favorite band as a teenager? Name 3 bands that
you consider still have a influence on your own work today.

The
main band that got me to pick up a guitar and start writing songs was The
Beatles. They certainly were my favorite band back then. But I was also
listening to a lot of the early rock n rollers like Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry,
etc. too. I was checking out who The Beatles liked and then going on a hunt to
find those records. A lot of 50's blues, doo wop and rock n roll was a part of
those formative years. I was also really into the bands coming out of England
at that time in the 90's: Oasis, Supergrass, Blur.

Bands
don't really influence my songwriting nowadays. Back when I was figuring out
how to write songs, they sure did. Now it's experiences and feelings that I
wanna get off my chest I'll write about. But, regardless of not thinking about
other bands when I write, I think your formative years really play a part in
the way you end up sounding or singing. So I can always hear a little Beatles,
Buddy, and the Everlys in my stuff.

5)Are
you still the main composer in The Singles or is everybody involved to a
certain extent?

I
am. But once the song is written I'll bring it to the band and we'll figure out
the feel of how the tune will go down. Will we play it fast or slow? Will it be
a waltz or a country shuffle? Those kind of things. Usually all that happens
naturally once we all start jamming on the song.

6)Do
you have a video on youtube featuring a track from the latest release?

There
is a live performance of us playing the song “Voodoo” off the new album. You
can see it on YouTube here:

7)What
can concert goers expect at a The Singles gig? Are you playing any famous cover
songs?

They
can expect a loud rock n roll set of our jams. Drums, bass and guitar. Some
good harmonies here and there as well. We are not doing any cover songs at the
moment.

8)When
you perform nowadays with The Singles, are you still playing some tracks from
the first albums? If so, are the songs given the "tougher sound"
treatment?

We do play a lot off the first two albums.
“Since You've Been Gone” “When Will She Be Mine?” “Waited So Long” to name a
few. Those are all in the current set. And I think the old tunes sound even
better with this line-up (with Max and Nicky). If we had the luxury to make an
album to re-record a bunch of the old songs, I would definitely try it out. I
think it would come out great. It would also show how some of those songs still
hold up today! Wink.Wink.

9)What are the plans for the rest of 2017 as
far as The Singles are concerned? Are you guys planning to tour Europe soon?

We're gonna try to play as many shows that
come our way and hopefully turn on some more people to our new album. We'd love
to go back and do another European tour again. The last time we did that was in
2008. If you know any booking agents that would want to help make it happen,
send them our way!

1 comment:

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